POOLE Town manager Tom Killick has confirmed his interest in former Swindon striker Ashan Holgate.

Holgate, currently a free agent having recently left Chippenham, held talks with Killick after watching Poole’s 1-1 draw with King’s Lynn at Tatnam on Saturday.

The 29-year-old progressed through the ranks at the County Ground and made 11 appearances for the Robins, including nine in League One.

He dropped into non-league with Weston-super-Mare in 2006 and had spells at Eastleigh, Newport County, Maidenhead and Oxford City before joining Chippenham in 2014.

Killick told the Daily Echo: “Ashan parted company with Chippenham three or four weeks ago and had to have a minor knee operation.

“He is probably a month or so from fitness and is someone I have always been an admirer of. He will get to a point where his fitness is back and then we will see where we are.

“The idea was that he would come to the game so we could have a chat and I introduced him to some of the players.

“He is keen on coming and I am keen on having him and am hopeful we will be able to sort out something but we need to be able to get him to a point where he is fit.”

Poole’s pursuit of the Southern Premier League title was checked by a third successive draw as they went into action for the first time since Boxing Day.

King’s Lynn took the lead in controversial circumstances after Michael Walker had been harshly judged to have handled with Sam Mulready heading home the resultant free-kick on 32 minutes.

A combination of errant finishing and the heroics of King’s Lynn goalkeeper Alex Street prevented the Dolphins from levelling until substitute Richard Gillespie equalised 12 minutes from time.

Killick added: “It was frustrating. We hadn’t played for pretty much three weeks and King’s Lynn had managed to get a couple of games in and it looked like that was the case. We weren’t quite as sharp as we would have hoped. It was another day where we paid the price for missing chances.

“We had enough chances to win but, in the end, we had to come from behind to claim a point. Having equalised, we still had chances to win.

“That is three draws in a row and three points from nine when I would have said the worst-case scenario would have been six.

“We have faltered a little over the past three games and the added thing now is that we have two really difficult away games at Merthyr and Redditch.

“When you have games like those, it is nice to get a home win under your belt so you can take the pressure off a little. Now, it will be crucial for us to pick up some points from those two away games.

Dolphins: Hutchings, Tallack, Spetch (Roberts, 60), Walker, Whisken, Pettefer, Burbidge, Devlin, Wort, Brooks, Dickson (Gillespie, 70). Unused subs: Connell, Davis, Rees (g/k).